Specialist Spotlight: Reaper in Review

Reaper debuts in Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 with an all-new loadout to help you exterminate enemy forces – the Radar Shroud and the newly-retooled Scythe.

by James Mattone on July 09, 2019

Reaper is online!

Joining the cast of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Specialists in the heat of summer, Reaper is here to add even more firepower. A returning Specialist from Black Ops III, Reaper is an experimental war robot armed for heavy assault operations.

Here’s a quick breakdown of Reaper, including some tips we have for playing as it in Multiplayer:

Shroud

A new piece of equipment yet to be seen in Black Ops 4, the Radar Shroud scrambles a portion of the mini-map within its effective radius, so enemies can’t gather information. Think of it as the anti-Sensor Dart.

The use case for this is clear: stealth and deception. The Radar Shroud can be very useful during objective play to conceal your team’s assault or confuse and disorient the enemy. Under the Shroud, enemies lose a precious source of information, and when you tip the intel scales in your favor good things can happen.

Consider equipping Dead Silence to height the effectiveness of the Shroud. The combined tactics of jamming the mini-map and silencing footsteps can give you the upper hand against the enemy. For them, two crucial senses– sight and hearing – are at a disadvantage.

Scythe

Black Ops III fans remember the Scythe as a minigun protruding from Reaper’s arms. In Black Ops 4, the Scythe is a bit different.

Instead of a minigun, the Scythe is a heavy-damage machine gun that rips through equipment, scorestreaks, and enemy players. It rapidly fires bullets that are cut from the same metal as the Titan with the Oppressor Operator Mod.

In other words, it’s a heavy-duty suppressive fire hose. Any player near the flight paths of these bullets will have their hearing and vision disoriented due to the high caliber lead zipping past.

Consider saving your Scythe charge for a game-changing moment, such as a crucial round of Search & Destroy or a big push towards an objective. On the other hand, every kill can make a difference, so don’t get too precious with it either.

There is no wrong way to use the Scythe, so long as you point it at the enemy. When it’s ready, bring it up and fire at will.

A Machine Built to Win

The Radar Shroud and the Scythe are useful in their own right, but the sum of their powers produces a dynamic combo that will disorient and confuse the opposition.

When attacking an objective, consider using the Radar Shroud as an initial engagement tool, especially if teammates are nearby and ready to pounce from multiple angles. Then, if it’s ready, fire up the Scythe and clear out any defenders on the point.

Alternatively, on defense, the Scythe can be put to effective use locking down a lane of access to an objective point. Instead of setting up a Sentry Gun, BE the Sentry Gun; ask a Torque to set up a Barricade on a crucial choke point, then go ahead and open fire on any attacker that’s sorry enough to walk into this Specialist barrage.

No matter how you use Reaper, it is a uniquely appealing pick among the Specialist pack and is a tough soldier to pass up on for your squad… Yet that could be said for the other Specialists found in Multiplayer.

If you’re looking for another Specialist to use, take a look at some of our other Specialist guides below and be on the lookout for more in the future.